Au Revoir, Mon Amie
by Zoey Overbeck
Summary: A sad Jerlita oneshot. Rated T for character death and minor use of blood. Jeremie finally summons the courage to visit her grave after all these months, and eventually pulls out of the tailspin he's in, just by remembering and celebrating her. AxJ 4ever!
1. Saying Goodbye

_**Au Revoir…**_

A tear hit the ground, and then another. A yellow haired boy stood in front of the relic of the girl of his dreams, crying over it. He pulled the hat on his head down, so nobody who was coming by would see him cry. The tears kept on falling, and he felt his heart being endlessly ripped into shreds again and again. He sobbed loudly, and tried to bite back more tears, but failed, and finally, he resigned, and let them fall, one by one.

Wiping them away, he kept on sharply in-taking and exhaling air as the waves of emotions swamped him and carried him away. How far was he from the shore of reality? He did not know anymore, he couldn't see the shore anymore. All he could see was the waves as they pulled him down, threatening to drown him. He was lost in the sea, and he could not swim back to shore. He knew that he would never make it in a long time.

Grateful for the overcast sky overhead that was threatening to pour down the rain it had been holding back, Jeremie Belpois was glad nobody would be able to interrupt his time with his late lover. Pulling out a bouquet of roses from the basket he had brought with him, he took them out, each individually, he arranged the red, white, and pink roses into a heart-shaped design that would have made her proud, if she was living and could see it. Just the thought of her made him start crying uncontrollably again.

"Why!?!" he practically yelled to the sky, as if knowing it could hear him. "Why did she _**have**_to die? She didn't deserve it! She didn't deserve it!"

Jeremie felt his heart being ripped out as he saw her portrait on the tombstone, flat on the ground, framed by his heart that he had made. He knew he still wasn't ready, even after all these months. When he was attending her funeral, he couldn't hold it together, and left in a mess, leaving a trail of tears, and more sorrow in his heart. He didn't stand 10 minutes of the burial.

He practically flew back into his dorm at Kadic, and he had shut and locked himself in, and had cried himself to sleep on his bed. When he woke up, he managed to convince himself it was a dream, until he saw the memorial the school had held for her while passing by the gym. When he saw it, he just listened behind the closed door, and silently wept to himself. Now, Jeremie couldn't stand himself anymore now, constantly yelling at himself for not honoring Aelita at her funeral, but he couldn't say goodbye just yet. Now, here he was, at the foot of her grave, having finally summoned the courage to say his goodbyes.

He knew that each goodbye really wasn't his last to her, as every end has a new beginning. Jeremie began telling Aelita about what happened after she was gone. He told her that things have gone downhill. Odd refused to make jokes, or even be happy, Ulrich grew more distant from the gang, and Yumi ... he didn't know what had happened to Yumi, they were unable to contact her, and she (and her family) had moved far away, to get away from both the painful and blissful memories of her. As for him, his grades had took a turn for the worst, he stopped eating, and always secluded himself in the factory, programming like mad to destroy XANA, hardly stopping to rest, and skipped almost every class.

He was frequently put into detention, probably even more times than Odd had, for skipping school, and for his grades. Jeremie didn't care anymore; it was like he lost all will to live. Sometimes, he would escape from detention and head to the factory, and start the cycle all over again. As he kept talking to her, his mind wandered back to the day she died.

----

It began as a normal day, with her getting up early to see the sun peak over the buildings, and send out a radiance and magnificence so majestic, she felt that no artist, no matter how talented, could contain the beauty of sunrise, as nature cannot be fully contained. She was very cheerful that day, cracking a few jokes of her own, and beating Odd at a chugging contest for orange juice. Later that day, they decided to go to one of France's beautiful parks that were nearby.

It was a day that was to be treasured forever, with Odd being the monkey in the middle in a game of Ultimate with Ulrich and Yumi. Both she and Jeremie watched them from under a linden tree, talking to each other as cherry blossoms lazily drifted in the Spring air. She had made a sketch of the wildlife there, categorizing it for later reference, for their upcoming wildlife projects. She had made about 20 sketches in her pad, helping Jeremie with his attempted sketch. Just as he was about to get the position of the mallard correct, it had flown away to join its' friends at the other side of the pond.

Jeremie, now shocked, was even more stunned when she went over to him, and planted a long kiss on the side of his cheek, prompting an unending stream of sentence fillers. Yumi, and Ulrich, seeing them, blushed at each other, and traded shy smiles, unnoticing Odd, dancing around like a maniac, partying that he had finally gotten the Frisbee. Jeremie didn't notice the time go by, and pretty soon, she was tugging at his red shirt and pointing to the sun, which was setting in a grand mixture of reds, oranges, and yellows.

The five friends smiled, and was about to leave, when both Jeremie and Ulrich pulled both Yumi and her under the Linden tree, held their hands, stared deep into their girlfriend's eyes, and, after a few dramatic seconds, bent over, and kissed them, right on their lips, Ulrich with Yumi, and Jeremie with his "Princess", cherry blossom petals swirling around them in the slight wind. They slowly pulled back and blushed for their sudden gesture of love, but were shocked when they returned the favor, Jeremie being frozen in his position from her kiss, and Ulrich was babbling stuff after the kiss from Yumi.

Odd watched jealously on, wishing that he was kissing the girl that was meant for him under a Linden tree, in the sunset, with the cherry blossom petals dancing around them, the wind playing with their hair, and kissing oh so clichéd-ly. He decided it was the test of patience, and that there _was _a girl out there, waiting to be loved by the great Odd. Yes, patience was the key for success.

Jeremie, the last of his blush fading, held her hand and started walking back to Kadic Academy, for a long rest before the start of a school day. Just as they were nearing the campus, a XANAfied driver sped towards them, madly intent on killing them. They scattered, and tried to run to safety, but she, in particular, was panicking inside, the internal alarm setting off when Jeremie retracted his hand quickly, and pointed out the possessed driver.

WHAM! ... BAM! SCREECH! … WHUMP!

With a sickening crack, she was struck full force, hitting another car that was going the other way. The other car screeched to a halt almost instantly. The possessed man came out of the car and was going to finish her off right then and there, hadn't Yumi and Ulrich pounced on him, and shocked him with the car's cable wires, forcing XANA to abandon the body and dissipate for the time being. The man in the other car had fallen unconscious due to the impact on his head from the steering wheel.

She was a train wreck, her messy pink pair and clothes matted with her blood. Jeremie was still standing there, horrified at what XANA had done. Clenching his fists, he vowed to do what it takes to destroy XANA once and for all. He ran to her just in time to hear her say in her dying gasps "I… l…lov…love… you…. Jeremi….Jeremie Belpois…" Taking her hand and looking into her eyes while there was light and shine in them, he said to her, sobbing madly like all broken men "And… I…I will always love you, Aelita Schaeffer."

Aelita smiled, and with one final, great gasp, she dropped the drawing pad she had clutched, and the light faded from her adoring eyes, never to return again, the shine growing duller. Still, there was the loving smile on her face, her facial muscles forever gripped in that position, and her brain taking all pain off of her, to show one last display of love to him before she faded away. Sirens pierced the night, but none were louder than the combined force of four old friends wailing their sorrow to the skies.

------

The news of her death was, of course, a shock to the school. They had arranged a funeral and a memorial service for her, and let everyone come, who had wished to come. Jeremie came, but was unable to give back the love he had for her, until now. Taking out a picture of her, and him, smiling together, he hugged it tightly to his chest, remembering all the good times he had with her, this time, letting the tears flow freely. He then replaced the picture, and finally took out her sketch book, saved from the police and the environment in a safe place, where the sun and the elements could not harm it.

With trembling hands, he opened it, and was greeted by her sketched pictures of animals. Flipping the pages one by one, and taking the time to enjoy the intricate designs, he came upon the last page. And there, instead of an animal, was his portrait, the paper full of erasure marks in her meticulous attempt to capture all of his details. Jeremie wiped the tears from his eyes, not wanting to ruin her drawings.

He hugged her drawings, and called out her name once, twice, a thousand times to the heavens. He was glad that the administration had left her room the way it was .He could save some more of her poems, drawings, and basically everything that represented her, not wanting her to go away. He reluctantly closed the pad, and placed it in a plastic bag, placing the now protected pad back into the basket as the sky let its tears fall. Jeremie slowly got up, smiled at her, and promised to come back frequently to tell her more of his exploits and adventures. Jeremie gave one last goodbye wave for the day, knowing there would be a chance to visit her again. With one last look at the burial site, he gravely smiled, and walked away, leaving the headstone to falsely proclaim to the world:

Aelita Stones

Born to Franz and Antea Stones

Born: March 25, 1993 Died: May 12, 2007

"And even in Death, we do not part, as it is merely a stepping stone to another part of our lives."

--

Epilogue

Jeremie was the only kid left for the wilderness project later that day. The stern Ms. Abrams walked up to him, glaring down at him because of his tainted record, and asked gruffly "Well, Belpois? Who's your partner?" Jeremie, looking up with tears in his eyes, proudly stated with hardly a waver in his voice, "Aelita."

---------------

Author's Note: Lately, I was feeling sort of down, and I decided to make a Code Lyoko oneshot that is a Jerlita fanfiction, as I usually let emotions run free in fanfiction (I'm actually apathetic in real life).

This is mostly in Jeremie's point of view, so there is no confusion over who is saying what. I tried putting all my sadness into this, so you will get the feel of the sadness Jeremie is feeling with the death of Aelita. I made up her assumed birth date, and her assumed date of death, as it took place in Season 4, so it is in 2006- November 2007. I actually cried while making this, reading it over and over again. Hmm… I seem to be better at writing scenes of misery, rather than scenes of joy, wouldn't you agree? However, I did make the ending better than planned. And this was written at 1-3 in the morning today, 1/7/10, because I'm bored.

Anyway, spilled ink all over my laptop, now struggling to get it off the keys and the mouse.

I know Mrs. Hertz teaches science, but it is another school year (it is now winter), and so, another science teacher.

The Linden tree has significance. In Dragostea Din Tei (aka Numa Numa), had significance, with young people falling in love under them in Tei. See the link for more info…

.org/wiki/Dragostea_din_tei

With a farewell until next time, Commando Wolf.


	2. Alternate Ending 1

Alternate Ending 1:

Jeremie was completely soaked to the bone from the rain as he had trudged all the way from her grave site to Kadic. Stifling a sneeze, he drudged back to his dorm, a sense of peace filling through him in what he had felt was a long time. He was getting tired, his feet were dragging across the ground with his futile attempts to walk to his room. 10 more steps! 7 more! Quickly now, leg up, leg down! Come on, buddy, you can make it! Closer… closer…!

"Gah!" he simply stated, amazed that it was taking him this much energy to get to his dorm, especially since he had been running to the factory for months, hardly stopping to eat, or to sleep.

Slowly opening the door and closing it behind him, he made his way to his computer, where he would be able to find a method to destroy XANA once and for all, trying to keep good on his promise to her. He suddenly flinched, thinking that he heard her whisper to him from the great beyond. He dismissed the thought, and kept on working, finishing the M.A.P. that he had been working on for months.

He was so close to finding the last codes for the programming, so he desperately sped up, leaning forward, almost hungrily, into the monitor of his computer. There was only several more to go… that's it… yes! Victory was at hand for him, and he was now typing away madly, muttering to himself faster and faster... 15 lines of binary code left to go! 7… 4… and now there was only one binary code left, waiting to be filled. He typed in the last of the code, "", and pressed enter.

As a response, the green plus sign, ringed by a circle, flashed on the screen. Jeremie smiled in triumph, but suddenly, he felt very weak. He sneezed violently several times, suddenly feeling light headed. Suddenly, the codes on his computer didn't make sense to him anymore. Weakness crept through his body. Fearing that he had caught a particularly nasty cold that would not allow him to run the program, he quickly wrote out the instructions on a piece of paper, while he still had the strength.

Finishing the instructions, putting it in simple commands so that Ulrich, who was possibly the only one who cared enough about him now, would be able to run it in the case that he was too sick to move. He felt his bones yearn for the softness of the bed, which was calling out to him, to finally get a decent rest. He lay down, and pulled the covers up, ignoring the fact that his clothes had not dried properly yet.

He was tired… so tired… and his body soon gave into the call from the bed, and Jeremie fell into the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known in his entire life. He felt himself slip away… and he was flying over Paris, over the Eiffel Tower, and into the skies above. He eloped through France, artfully dancing through the sky, giving the people below a streak of mysterious light soaring all over France in a spectacular space light show.

He soon felt a presence, and he knew immediately that it wanted to play with him, to fly with him. Jeremie, confused at first, eventually recognized the spiritual essence as someone he had known well before… It was Aelita, and she was extending her "hand" as a sort of invitation to come and fly with her, as they soared all over the world. He went with her to America, to see Yumi doing well on her own, although they both knew that she was very lonely without her friends, and she didn't have one there, not really speaking the language. When Yumi was alone, she pined for her old friends, wishing that she had never left at all.

Jeremie saw, and understood that although he had pushed them away, they still cared for him. Aelita was waiting above, and she led him back to Kadic, showing Jeremie Odd and Ulrich's true feelings on him. Odd was feeling a large amount of regret that he was not quick enough in thinking to push her out of the way of the speeding car, and he fought with himself. Ulrich, was in truth, just plain worried about him.

Jeremie discovered that they were concerned for his health, and how they were more worried when he just had simply brushed it off as a minor problem. Jeremie immediately felt guilty. He had ignored their concerns, and so his heath suffered. He had also practically ignored them, shutting himself in his room and isolating himself.

Jeremie looked down and shut his eyes, but opened them once again when a warm feeling was sent through the air from above. Jeremie floated up a little, and then understood that the afterlife was calling him. Aelita was hovering high above, waiting for him. And Jeremie answered the call, leaving the world to watch over it from afar.

----

Cowritten by XANA-Aelita Forever.

Quote "into the most comfortable and satisfying sleep he had ever known" came from "To Build a Fire", by Jack London.

1 of 3 Alternate Endings

2nd one in development.


	3. Alternate Ending 2

-Alternate Ending the Second-

Jeremie smiled from across the room, merrily waving at Ulrich and Odd, who were surprised that he was happy, of all days. It was the 5th month anniversary of when she died. Even more puzzling to them he seemed to have lost all traces of sadness. Yesterday, was the day that he had gone to visit her, and he seemed extremely sad, as if he did not want to go. Now, he was just a bunch of happiness and smiles, having an insane grin plastered over his face.

Ulrich walked cautiously over to him, and peered closely at him, trying to see if this was a fake Jeremie. Seeing that he was the real one, Ulrich opened his mouth to say something, when Jeremie fiercely whispered to him "she lives!" From behind Ulrich, Odd nodded, uncertainly smiling back at the awkwardness of the moment. Ulrich, having no idea what he was talking about, thought that he was finally going crazy when Odd explained that Aelita still lived through them.

Ulrich, finally understanding, knew that Jeremie had visited Aelita, and brought some of her stuff with him so he could look over it. Ulrich put his hand on Jeremie's shoulder, and nodded, before removing it, and slowly walking back to his dorm. Odd shrugged, and handed Jeremie his lunch before leaving. Jeremie looked at it for a moment, and then wolfed it down, faster than Odd could have done due to the lack of intake of food.

He was now dreaming. There wasn't any simpler version of putting that. Jeremie was actually sleeping in his dorm room, and not waking up after two hours to go back to work. Jeremie was swimming in the river, which was now carrying him into an ocean. Suddenly, a giant wave came up, and shoved him down, forcing him to try to beat the current. Jeremie oddly felt at ease, just floating around in the water. Suddenly, it felt that he couldn't breathe.

Jeremie struggled in the water, and exhaled the last of the oxygen in his lungs in one gasp. The last thing he saw before he blacked out was an arm, plunging through the water, and grabbing his own hand to haul him up to the surface above. Jeremie started gasping, finding the air his burning lungs desperately needed, waking up on a shore of a beach, which had a sand bar far as the eye could see, eventually converging into the horizon.

He blinked and looked around, finding nothing but the sand on the beach, the shells lying on them. He heard nothing except for the occasional gentle breeze from the wind, and the ocean, coming towards him and touching his toes before receding, only for it to come back and wash the sand away again, tickling his feet in the process. Upon closer, inspection, he noticed that there were medium-sized footprints in the sand, a little bit smaller than his own.

Jeremie blinked again, and looked behind him. Sitting there, was Aelita, waving at him, a broad grin across her face. Jeremie grinned back and was about to talk when he felt that he was being pulled backwards. The shore and the ocean flew from him at blinding speed, the air whipping around him. And suddenly, with a jolt, Jeremie's eyes opened, and jerked the rest of himself awake.

Finding himself in his dorm room, he muttered a series of "what a weird dream" and "that couldn't have been real, could it? But it did feel so real…" He got out of his bed, and yawned, stretching himself out, before looking at the clock, which proclaimed that it was 7 in the morning. Jeremie gave himself a chuckle before leaving his room to get himself ready for the day.

The weeks passed by quickly. Jeremie had pulled his grades up, and didn't get into detention. The teachers were surprised at his quick transformation, often believing that this was all a dream to them. Jeremie allowed himself a grin at their bewilderedness, and looked out the window into the sunshine, before slowly turning away again. He could have sworn that Aelita was in the sunshine, looking down on him, watching him and being his guardian angel.


	4. The Final Frontier

**The Last Frontier**

Jeremie Belpois was not sure where he was now, even as he cautiously opened his eyes to a blinding sensation, immediately causing him to close his eyes in pain. Something cold, slippery, and wet repeatedly brushed against his foot, causing him to wince every time the cold substance made contact with him. The ground was soft, yet warm and… grainy for some reason- replacing the cold and hard ground that was what he was sitting on moments ago.

Jeremie was confused. Wasn't he on solid ground moments ago? Where did the sun come from? Why is there water her- wait- is the Factory flooding? Jeremie felt the landscape around him with his hands, each time finding the same grainy material wherever his hands traveled. In small degrees, Jeremie was learning about his surroundings.

Jeremie shifted his position into the "Push-up" stance, finally being able to open his eyes. In front of him, was tons of sand. Looking around, he found that he was on a sandbar- the sand going to the left and right of him endlessly in both directions, trees and other sorts of vegetation in front of him, and the calming sea behind him. Jeremie flipped onto his back as soon as his eyes grew accustomed to the amount of light and then sat upright, staring out into the vast amount of water there- the horizon being covered with a sort of mist.

"Beautiful, isn't it?" a voice asked him.  
"I guess so, if you stare long at it long enough" Jeremie replied.

A soft sound nearby signified that the speaker had sat down next to him. Jeremie turned, seeing the figure, clad in white clothing- a simple white dress that went down to her ankles, the mane of pink hair softly moving to the wind, partly covering the green eyes that lay underneath it.

"Fancy seeing you here, 'lita" Jeremie said casually, looking over to her, seeing that she had not changed much from the last encounter he had with her.  
"Not so, if you know what this means if you're seeing me here" Aelita replied, lightly yawning.

Jeremie grew still as he realized what she was saying. If he was here, then that means he was-

"You're dead," Aelita finished for him, her eyes flicking momentarily to him. "I'd say you were pretty gutsy back there, taking on a Megatank in the real world."

Jeremie frowned as the memories came flooding back. XANA had managed to materialize several Megatanks this time, each doing a lot more damage than the Kankrelats and the Krabs had done in the past. Jeremie, knowing Aelita was gone, knew that a clone could go in as Aelita- by a lot of tweaking of the supercomputer and the replication of the data that was in essence, the key to Lyoko… or her half of it, to be more correct. Jeremie had just completed the virtualization of the rest of the gang, and the Megatank had entered the lab- using the elevator from the scanner room- the elevator being controlled by XANA in order to help it, and by blasting the lab doors down with its powerful laser. Jeremie, at this point, was pretty angry at XANA for what he had done in the past, and picking up a metal bar laying a few feet away, ran towards it in blind rage. The Megatank had fired the laser as soon as Jeremie stuck the pole on the Eye of XANA, blasting Jeremie back to painfully hit against the metal walls. Then his world grew dark as the Megatank exploded, large chunks of debris going towards him- dome making contact with his body- others blasting off to the side.

Jeremie let out a sigh, looking back at the sky. Was this sky real? Was it just part of a digital recreation that somehow he landed on? Jeremie had a million questions to ask- death does that to a person.

"Where am I then? Is this heaven? How come you don't have a halo and wings?" Jeremie quickly said all three questions, they were rapidly rolling off his tongue without his bidding.  
"Some might call this the "Final Destination". This might be "Heaven" to some, or "The Far Shore" to others, depending how you look at it. It has many names- but the three main ones seem logical. A logical person might see this as just the final resting place, just as a highly logical person might look at a glass either half-full, or half-empty, depending on whether the glass is filled or emptied. Halos and wings were figments of the mind for a living person- the afterlife is where anything can happen, so to speak. For example, I can probably change my appearance now, but I'd rather not right now." Aelita responded, twirling a bit of her pink hair, which reached past her shoulder blades now.

Jeremie took another look around, taking in everything. 'Is this what it's like to be dead?' he thought. 'It seems a bit boring to me'.

"You're not really here, though" Aelita said nonchalantly, letting the strands of her hair dance in the wind. "See that object in the distance?"

Jeremie looked over to where she was pointing. "The Factory..." he whispered, leaning closer.  
"Correct," Aelita said "that is the Renault Factory, in the distance, but we are not exactly near the Seine River. We're on a different plane, or a different dimension, however you want to look at it." Aelita paused for a minute in her talk, her mind teeming. "Do you want to go back?" she said after a while. "You're not exactly dead yet, and it is not your time, but do you want to go back?" Aelita finished saying, arching her back and allowing white wings to spurt forth while she waited.

Jeremie thought for a minute, the gears in his head winding, calling every source of logic within his head. While it would be nice to be with the one he loved, he knew that he would eventually catch up with her later in time, and had a feeling that he would be missed back on Earth. Somehow, he knew that Aelita knew the same thing.

"I chose… to go back" Jeremie said with finality.  
"Good choice, though I am in no position to say what kind of choice it is" said a female voice, completely unrecognizable to Jeremie's ear.

Jeremie looked back, and saw another pink-haired woman, but she had long, straight hair. From the pictures from the remnants of the Hermitage, Jeremie could guess that she was the mysterious Antea Hopper.

"Believe me, Jeremie-I believe it's your name, correct?" Antea started, then looked to Jeremie, who nodded in confirmation that she had said the correct name. "I was in your predicament- I noticed it when you looked around in confusion. I had the choice to live, but I chose not to- I willingly died when the MIB came for me, refusing to tell them any of my husband's secrets"  
"So, then, this is goodbye, then?" Aelita questioned Jeremie.  
"Yeah…" Jeremie said distantly, gazing into the green orbs as is searching for something.  
"Remember Jeremie," Aelita said "in the afterlife, we can do basically anything- except have a physical form"

Jeremie felt a gently tugging behind him and knew it was almost time to leave. Jeremie slowly walked over and slowly pulled her into a hug, the feathers ticking his arms. Knowing it would be countless decades before they saw each other, Aelita slowly returned the favor, her form allowing her enough solidity to hug him. Jeremie slowly pulled away, then gave her a kiss- a full on the lips kiss.

Was it a moment, or an eternity before they broke? In small degrees, the feeling of the Final Frontier left him, and his vision blurred before dimming- the last thing he was seeing was her kind, but sad smile. Jeremie would still feel a bit of that warm feeling, until something wet and cold splashed across his face. Opening his eyes quickly, he gasped and took in the air that his lungs screamed for.

"…. And he's awake!" Ulrich proudly declared, putting the bucket away that had been previously filled with water.  
"Yeah, we thought you were a goner!" Odd declared.  
"Hey, Jeremie. If you're gonna fight like that,then you should join us on Lyoko! And don't worry about the tower" Yumi said, noticing his worried look. "The clone worked just fine, though with several problems, that's what improvising is for" Yumi said, shrugging.

Jeremie stretched himself out, wincing when his healing wounds hurt. Feeling something between his fingers, he looked down and found three feathers, dry, but softly glistening from an unknown force. Jeremie looked at them for a while before playfully muttering "Show-off", as stowed it in his pocket, got up and followed the others to the elevator.

Later that night, Jeremie turned the feathers over and over in his hand as they glistened in the moonlight, reflecting the moon's soft light, seemingly disappearing from time to time. Yawning, he placed them in a glass case on his table, and fell asleep, a rarity for workaholics such as himself. Turning to his side, Jeremie missed the sight of a transparent person- his guardian angel, white-clad in a simple dress, as she looked at him one last time with her sad green eyes before flying away on wings made of the stuff of dreams to the moon.. In a few seconds, she was gone, the wings being the last to disappear, shining a soft grayish-white glow in the night- Jeremie's guiding light from then on.

--  
Okay… I don't like that much fluff… sorry… I don't like kissing scenes either. :P The question I am going to ask you is this: What is the afterlife, after all? Maybe it is something more, something beyond imagination- beyond description… ~C.W.


	5. Easter Special

Taking advantage of the Easter Break, I decided to post something for the readers during the spirit of Easter. Yes, I am an Atheist, but technically still a Catholic because I was baptized (but had no idea what was going on. Infancy does that to people). Besides, I kind of owe bunnies… er… don't ask.

--

_**Au Revoir Mes Ami- Easter Special (Version 2.0) **_

The pale light crept over the buildings, and then slowly made its way over France as a new day emerged. Morning was just peeking over the structures as it made its way through Europe, a new day dawning, and new hopes were rising like the sun. The light gold light peered through the windows, entering the room, and causing a blond boy to stir as the light hit his eyelids. One eye slowly opened, and then another, before the boy rose from the bed, sitting up, and placing on his black oval glasses, yawning loudly as he did so. He looked out the window, where the pink sky was slowly fading into a golden hue as the planet rotated towards the sun.

'A pale pink sky… blended with yellow and orange… She would have loved to paint such a sky' he thought to himself as he stretched out, looking at the digital clock which read '6:27 AM' in bright green characters.

Sundays were the only days that students in Kadic did not go to school, besides the holidays. Jeremie leisurely lay back on his bed, intending to sleep in for the day for once, instead of programming codes all day. However, as he gazed at an item on his wall-mounted shelf, it struck him as odd that it could be gleaming brightly at such a time of day. It was a small glass heart, one that he had made to symbolize his friendship with Aelita one day when they were in crafts. She in turn, gave him a glass swan, which had a chip on one of its wings due to an interference made by Odd one day as they joked around, apparently trying to sabotage each others' carvings that would eventually be turned into the creature of their choice.

Jeremie smiled at the memories before getting up and reaching for the glass heart that resided on the shelf. Normally, it was cool to the touch, but today, it was warm, as if it was responding to his touch. Jeremie looked at it, perplexed, before donning his glasses and putting the glass figure in his blue pajama pocket and leaving his dorm room to go outside, where the cool winds blew during the Easter morning. For some, strange reason that he could not understand, he was guided to the place where Aelita's hallucinations had gotten to her quite frequently.

The Hermitage. For years, it stood, withstanding the test of time as it rushed by the house, abandoned of its occupants. The building itself was still standing as a ghost to some, but the memories still lived on vibrantly, even as the last Schaeffer was gone. As Jeremie made his way through the trees and the thick growth of the forest, the item in his pocket grew slightly warmer as he progressed towards the house.

Finally, the building came into view as the trees lessened, the structure silently peering down at the streets and the forest that lay before it as France was waking up and proceeding with life as cars slowly made their way through the streets. However, there was something that was unusual this time about it. Instead of its usual, decrepit state, it looked as if it was inhabited all this time, the growth cut back to a manageable level, and the house itself appearing well maintained. Jeremie gave the gate a tiny push, surprised when he found that there was new chains binding the door with a padlock securing them.

"What's going on here?" he asked to nobody in particular as he climbed, or attempted to climb, over the gate.

Jeremie grunted as he finally cleared the gate, falling ungracefully onto the ground. Getting up from his sprawled state, he carefully took the glass heart out of his pocket to check for damage, sighing in relief when no apparent damage was done to it. Replacing it in his pocket, he slowly made his way to the door, peering into the home through the glass part of the doorway. Strangely, it was in good condition as the exterior. Jeremie nervously put a hand on the doorknob, surprised when it turned easily in his hand. The door swung open noiselessly, revealing more of the interior of the home.

Piano music filled the air as he entered the home, closing the door after him. Jeremie shook himself, and then pinched his arm, stifling a cry of pain as he realized that this was not a dream. He peeked into the living room where he knew the piano was, and looked on as the piano keys moved in tune as the song kept playing.

"Moonlight Sonata…" he muttered to himself as the song ended, beginning another song immediately afterwards. "Nocturne… no… Canon in D!" he exclaimed as he recognized the song.

The piano kept playing, almost hauntingly, and he kept on seeing people faintly moving about in the house, not noticing him there. Jeremie did not recognize who most of the people were, but did see a few people milling around that he did recognize from Aelita's description of them before the incident nearly a year ago. Looking around him as the phantoms appeared and disappeared, he saw the outline of a person wearing a lab coat before it faded away, a boy with pink hair sulking and plucking at the strands, struggling with a bottle of hair dye, assorted adults and children, and older people moving around, also oblivious to Jeremie.

Guessing that these were members of the Schaeffer family, including the extended branches of it, Jeremie tried to look for more familiar people that he knew. Instead, he found an odder sight, finding an older man rowing a small boat made up of the stuff of dreams in the middle of the hall, a foot off the ground. Looking behind him, he jumped backwards to avoid a person with gray hair bike past him on a bicycle, before he remembered that they were mere echoes of once embodied people. He finally found a small group of people sporting bright pink hair, excluding the boy that now sported a dark red colored hair, floating and inch or so off of the floor, talking nonchalantly. On the outside of the circle, there was a young girl, no more than 8 years old, who was utterly bemused on what was going on. Jeremie cautiously approached her, and even though she appeared younger as a phantom, Jeremie could easily tell who it was.

"Aelita?" he asked uncertainly, not knowing if the phantoms could hear him.

"Jeremie!" the young girl exclaimed, turning around to face him. "What are you doing here?" she asked as she made a movement with an arm, the other visible specters instantly fading away into nothingness, but the piano still kept playing music.

"Well… I … er…" he said, motioning with his hands before taking the heart out from his pocket and gesturing to it. "This… uh… your gift… uhm… Actually, I don't have an idea why I am here." Jeremie said, rubbing the back of his head with the other hand.

"Well… you did get my message" Aelita said, shrugging her non-existent shoulders. "It took you long enough to find me."

"Well, yes, and I was sort-of distracted by these people that appear to be your relatives… uhm… they seem… interesting." Jeremie replied, remembering the man rowing in a boat not too long ago.

"Every family is dysfunctional in its own way. Mine's just a little … wackier." Aelita admitted. "To tell you the truth, I don't really remember most of these people, with the Lyoko incident and all that. I am, or was, the last Schaeffer, since my father had died. He's over at the piano, playing music as we speak" Aelita said, gesturing to the piano, where her father appeared, his fingers dancing over the piano keys.

Jeremie looked at the phantom of Waldo Schaeffer, and had half a mind to go over there and start asking questions about XANA, the supercomputer, and Project: CARTHAGE. He strode over there, and tried to speak to the phantom like he had done with Aelita, but found little success, as the phantom did not speak to him, let alone recognize his existence in the room.

"He doesn't really know who you are, in terms of seeing you in person, that's why he can't register who you are, let alone see you or hear you" Aelita explained coming up to them.  
"…but he contacted me several times to help us!" Jeremie exclaimed. "So he must know who I am!"  
"You are correct in your statement," Aelita said, watching the phantom of her father disappear as the music stopped playing. "Though he does not know you in real life, while he was still alive and in the physical world, instead of Lyoko"

"Fine…" Jeremie said, sulking. "Well then, can you explain why you appear as an 8 year old?" Jeremie asked.

"Well, I can probably do anything that does not involve being physical, and reliving my childhood probably played a factor in it." Aelita said, nonchalantly. "I can 'age' back to when I am a teen, though."  
"Yes, please do so." Jeremie begged.

Aelita gave a small chuckle before slowly aging. Jeremie watched as 'Princess' slowly began to morph back into her teenaged form, a bright light flashing as the change stopped. Jeremie rubbed his eyes free from the after-effects of the light, and saw that Aelita had changed into the form where she was 'wearing' her usual attire as a teen. She landed next to him, appearing almost as if she was still alive.

"Can you reverse all this?" Jeremie questioned her as she turned around to face him. "We miss you… I miss you…" Jeremie said, almost whispering it as he held out the glass heart to her.  
"Normally I wouldn't be able to do this, but it is Easter Sunday." She said, nodding affirmatively. "I probably could, but only if you wish it with all your heart."

By now, the morning sun was in full view of the sky, illuminating the whole house. The phantom of Aelita began to waver back and forth as the sunlight hit her form; the image of the well-maintained house flickering as well as the illusion was being dissipated. Jeremie sucked up the rest of the breath he had left and shouted out the wish, his voice filling the house and the sound echoing through the building in an eerie way. As her image was fading away into nothingness, Jeremie saw that she had nodded, accepting his wish, and had snapped her fingers together.

"Wait! Don't leave me!" was the last thing he shouted before a white light filled the house, immediately spreading through France, through the world, and then into the starry skies above.

When Jeremie awoke and adjusted his glasses, the first thing he noticed through his glasses was the thick dust covering the floor. Coughing as the dust made its way through his respiratory system, Jeremie got up before sneezing violently several times. Getting up from the cold dusty floor, Jeremie took notice of the strewn papers, yellowed with age, lying about on the floor of the house, now in its normal decrepit state. Jeremie picked up the glass ornament that was lying next to his foot, and placed it once more in his pocket, his hand shaking a little at its cold touch.

Picking himself off of the floor and standing up, he looked around once more at his surroundings and brushed himself off, starting for the broken door, not noticing that in the dust, there was tiny impressions, and fresh ones, by the look of things. It seemed like the whole thing was just a crazy vision, and that he had sleepwalked all the way from Kadic into the Hermitage for some reason. Checking his wristwatch, Jeremie noted that it was early in the morning and that he had better hustle back to the school grounds before the people in the school woke up and noticed him trying to sneak back into his dorm.

Making his way through the door, he gave the house one final glance before going through the gate and disappearing into the woods. Silently sneaking around the forest, he made his way to nearby the school, glancing at the large digital display from a bank building, displaying the time as '3:57 AM' in bold characters, not noticing the date under the time display. Yawning, Jeremie trudged back into the dorm building, evaded a snoring Jim, and entered into his room, covering himself with his blanket. Jeremie tried to get to sleep by staring at the ceiling before looking at the wall-mounted shelves, remembering the glass heart in his pajama pocket.

Slowly getting up with a muffled groan, Jeremie took the glass item out of his pocket, placing it on its usual place on the shelf. Reaching back his hand, Jeremie noted that there was something missing on the shelf… something that was there before that was now missing… the swan! Somebody could have easily taken it from his dorm to cause him further emotional harm, though Jeremie dismissed that even Sissi would not have gone as far as to do that. Maybe XANA had done it just to make him emotionally upset again.

He strode over to the computer and after shaking the mouse to wake the PC from hibernation mode, he checked the super-scan to see if there were any activated towers on Lyoko. After checking twice and getting the results that there were no activated towers, Jeremie reached over to his mobile, believing the super-scan to be giving faulty results. Upon checking his list of contacts for his friends however, he came upon a number that he had thought that he had deleted. Fully waking up, he tossed the phone carelessly upon his bed and dashed upstairs, being careful enough not to disturb others. Finally, he came to his destination.

Heart pounding, Jeremie reached for the knob and turned it, finding a complete surprise when he opened the door. It was if it never happened, the pink-haired occupant breathing softly as she slumbered. Jeremie slowly made his way towards her, finding the glass swan on her desk, the same place he had found it after she had died. But this… was impossible… Tentatively, Jeremie nudged her with his arm, nearly gasping in shock as she gave a small moan and green eyes slowly opened to find him in her room.

"Jeremie… what're you doing here… do you know what time it is? Is XANA attacking?" she asked sleepily, rubbing her eyes,

"But…but… you're dead! I saw you… Odd, Ulrich, and Yumi saw you die!" Jeremie whispered fiercely, still unable to comprehend what was going on.

"Jeremie, I think you've been programming too much. I'm still breathing, and talking to you, and I'm still physically in this world. Somebody's going crazy…"

"But… but… I just… you were a ghost… and I was talking to you in the Hermitage!" Jeremie whispered back.

"Do you know what time is it?" Aelita asked, jabbing a finger to her clock, which read '4:02 AM' in bright red characters.

"Well… I'm sorry about this… and do you know what day it is, and the year, by any chance?" Jeremie inquired, hoping to get the mess out of his head.

Aelita just stared at him, eyes looking incredulously at him as if he had gone completely insane or something along the lines of having a type of amnesia. Jeremie just shrugged his shoulders, and waited for her answer patiently.

"It's May 12, 2007, I believe" Aelita said, suppressing a yawn from the exhaustion from the last XANA attack the day before.

"Then that means…" Jeremie said, before putting the pieces together. "Yippee!" he said, almost forgetting to keep his voice quiet.

"Shush, Jeremie! Jim'll catch us!" Aelita whispered back.

Jeremie ignored her statement, instead randomly hopping about in his 'happy dance' before pulling her up from her by the arms and 'dancing' with her, Aelita in truth, being shaken up and down by a happy Jeremie, not knowing what to do at the moment as she was being shaken. Eventually, Jeremie went off to his room, leaving a very confused Aelita behind. Behind her, the clock silently blared out in its lettering '4:04 AM'.

THE END?

-Epilogue, this ending originally didn't make the cut in the first version-

"You guys! You gotta check it out! I went to the cemetery earlier this morning, and Aelita's grave doesn't exist!" Jeremie happily, nearly bouncing around in his seat as the group took their usual positions at the Lunch table. "Her death didn't even happen! XANA didn't kill her!"

"Jeremie, Aelita's in front of you, she never died, and XANA did not kill her." Ulrich calmly explained to Jeremie for what seemed to be the hundredth time today.

"Yes, Jeremie, I think you should be getting a little more rest" Aelita said, touching him lightly on the shoulder. "The stress of XANA might be getting to you".

"But… it did happen! I'm not crazy!" Jeremie sputtered.

"Jeremie, Jeremie, Jeremie, all I know is that today is Meatloaf day, and that I'm going to bomb today's Chemistry exam." Odd said, stuffing his face with the Swedish Meatballs they provided for Lunch.

"Jeremie, XANA has not attacked yesterday, and besides a few bruises we received from the Polymorphic Specters, we're undamaged." Yumi pointed out.

"But…. But… but… fine…" Jeremie conceded to his friends as they started eating their lunch. 'But I know I still remember what happened, why can't they?' Jeremie thought to himself as he continued to eat. 'She did it… she reversed time!' Jeremie exclaimed inside of his head 'that's why I'm the only one who can remember!'.

Jeremie laughed along as Odd told a lame joke. All he knew was that fighting XANA would not be the same ever again.

--  
A.N.: Did I confuse you in the middle of the story (after the end of Ghost 'Lita and Jeremie's encounter)? I guess I owe Kyubii King Demon Knight and the readers also, for killing her off… twice. Anyway, happy late Easter, everyone! _I might just put this in the CL forums._ Eh… maybe not. This chapter/Easter Special was mostly based on an RP I did with someone long ago (well, maybe not THAT long ago). Introducing the fictional Mega-RTTP, available in this story! Heh… the guy with pink hair was random along with the other oddities in the house. :) 4:04? It's the date of which Easter occurs this year. I also don't know what floor Jim officially sleeps in, as it is shown that Jim was on the floor when the invisible specter attacked him on the girls' floor, but it does show that Jim is on the boys' floor. … Maybe he has 2 dorm rooms and he sleeps on both floors on alternating days? This is the abridged version of the story, the first version being a lot more confusing. If you didn't want a happy ending, you should have not read this chapter, and instead have kept to the Series of Unfortunate Events in the ultra-fluffy original one-shot story (Chapter 1). _**It was my sad duty to record this tale as honestly as possible, and now that I am done telling 'Au Revoir Mes Ami', I am fired. **_~Folco W. M. Donma (anagram of 'Commando Wolf', in keeping with Lemony Snicket's habit of using them in "The Series of Unfortunate Events")


End file.
